The EU is already retaliating against the US new import tariffs. Any tariff or trade war would be ill-advised and would cause self inflicted pain, with lower risks. So what can be another more productive answer, consistent with the EU Anti-Coercion instrument?
Rather than imposing generic customs that would increase prices of many goods that are both beneficial and useful for Europeans (including in areas where one is interested in maintaining Western production capacities, such as in chips, machinery and chemicals production, battery development or car-making, expecting that Western collaboration will resume in future), we should consider other options.
One opportunity would be to strongly reduce the inflow and influence of goods and services known to damage especially people’s health, coming from the US; particularly social media.
This spring will see the end of Skype (after two decades), which may be seen as a healthy and beneficial forerunner to social media (allowing us to uphold real relationships globally with minimal costs compared to traditional methods).
Why not end the unhealthy social media addiction that has evolved in the past decade or so? Social media quickly shifted to have a negative effect on people’s lives.
Social media is strongly negatively related to mental health, to inefficient time use, weakened family relations, depressing comparisons with others, a weakening of democracy and for less tax revenue.
Social media benefits from Europeans, yet Europeans are likely suffering in return. While a global issue, Europe is now in a position to end this.
Many have already required parental consent (e.g., France), banned social media at younger ages (France, UK), have 40 min max daily use (e.g., China), identity verification (requiring platforms to check — and enforce), ban of certain social media like TikTok, WeChat (India), or introduced night bans (South Korea) — both in the interest of the young and for national security concerns.
Taxation could be introduced and should include estimate worth of the youth’s mental health.
Europe has a very high share of ad-clicking and social media addicts with high consumption power: more Europeans than North Americans or Asians have a wealth of at least $100,000 [€91,600].
Europeans should seek to recover from a 'FIST' (that is, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok) which knocked them out years ago and from which we still have not gotten to our feet from.
A randomised trial cited shows that blocking smartphone internet access for two weeks improved mental health, attention, and well-being, suggesting constant connectivity undermines quality of life in many ways.
Europe, already a leader in effective digital regulation (e.g., GDPR), should as far as possible impose severe regulations and limit access — especially for children and adolescents — to these platforms, tax their revenue models; foster better alternatives with less ads and end addiction based reward systems.
While acknowledging US beneficial innovations and useful exports in many other areas, the EU should reject modern exploitative tech, rather than focusing on ending, for example, Tesla’s electric cars, in spite of the animosity to Elon Musk.
This shift could redirect time wasted on social media toward productive pursuits, positioning Europe as a pioneer in a healthier digital economy.
Europe, but also other world regions like Latin America, South Asia and Oceania, has gone from being a beneficiary of excellent US invention to a victim of useless American digital dominance.
The economic opportunity lies in redirecting attention from mindless scrolling to meaningful but politically uncensored engagement, while addressing public health and quality of life.
In a way, Europe would thereby (in a positive manner) imitate China’s great firewall, where FIST applications have been shut out, and replaced with carefully-regulated and curated local apps that have very strict policies for youth engagement.
European apps would have a chance to develop enlightened versions of FIST applications, which are open source, and provide a public good to the world. Europe has a chance to lead by values, and not pure exploitative commercialism that hypothecates our children’s future.
Professor Vegard Skirbekk is affiliated with Oslo and Columbia Universities and a principal investigator at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. He has written for Foreign Affairs, The Economist, Wired Magazine and the Guardian.
Professor Vegard Skirbekk is affiliated with Oslo and Columbia Universities and a principal investigator at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. He has written for Foreign Affairs, The Economist, Wired Magazine and the Guardian.